GII Alysheba S.

With nothing off the table, MGISW Fierceness (City of Light) could face stablemate GISW Mindframe (Constitution) in next month's GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap, according to trainer Todd Pletcher. Fierceness worked Thursday over Saratoga Race Course's Oklahoma dirt training track in preparation for what is shaping up to be a titanic race during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course. The champion colt breezed in company with GSP Tuscan Sky (Vino Rosso) through a half-mile in 49.85 seconds, according to NYRA clockers. It marked the pair's second...

Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Fierceness (City of Light) is pointing to the GII Alysheba Stakes on the Kentucky Oaks undercard where it's possible he could duel with fellow Todd Pletcher trainee Locked (Gun Runner), according to a tweet by Fierceness owner Mike Repole on Friday. The message on Repole's account said, "Fierceness will be making his 4-year-old debut at Churchill Downs in the Alysheba Stakes. He will square off vs barn mate and super-talented multiple Grade I winner Locked! What a matchup! Racing fans wanted to see more older horses comeback...

And the beat goes on for Olympiad (Speightstown), who looked to be in all sorts of trouble entering the final furlong of Friday's GII Alysheba S., but he called on his class and talent to repel a challenge from 'TDN Rising Star' Happy Saver (Super Saver) to remain perfect from four starts this season. Away alertly, the odds-on favorite raced prominently under the wire for the first time and had company to his inside in the form of Weyburn (Pioneerof the Nile) and from a three-wide Happy Saver. The Chiefswood...

Godolphin homebred Maxfield (Street Sense), last seen romping in the GII Alysheba S. at Churchill Apr. 30, remains on track for that venue's GII Stephen Foster S. June 26. "We brought him over to Keeneland after [GI Kentucky] Derby week at Churchill and we are targeting the Stephen Foster," trainer Brendan Walsh said. "He'll make his way back to Churchill and we'll likely work him Saturday. I think the timing of this race works out well for us because it's the same timing following his race in the [Mar. 6...

Godolphin homebred Maxfield (Street Sense) will look to bounce back from his first-ever defeat as the Churchill Downs graded action kicks off Friday with the GII Alysheba S. The 2019 GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity hero was forced to miss that year's Breeders' Cup due to injury, and resurfaced a good-looking winner of the track-and-trip GIII Matt Winn S. some 11 months ago, only to be knocked off an elongated Triple Crown trail with a condylar fracture. He defeated Sonneman (Curlin) handily in both the Dec. 19 Tenacious S. and Feb....

DARRS Inc.'s Extravagant Kid (Kiss the Kid), winner of last Saturday's G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan, is scheduled to return home this week, according to trainer Brendan Walsh. "He will quarantine in Chicago for 48 hours and then should be down [at Keeneland] Sunday or Monday," Walsh confirmed Thursday morning. An astute $75,000 claim by the current connections in January 2018, the 8-year-old gelding landed his first graded stakes score of his career in Dubai, as Walsh looked on flying from Miami to New Orleans. "I was trying to...